Donor brings reward for burro killings to over $50,000

This undated photo provided by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management shows two feral burros in the Mojave Desert within the BLM's Needles, Calif., Field Office. Someone has been killing the wild burros of California's Mojave Desert, and the BLM is offering up to $10,000 to anyone who can help catch the culprit. Over the past three months, 42 dead burros with gunshot wounds have been found along a 60-mile stretch of Interstate 15, the main highway linking Los Angeles to Las Vegas. (U.S. Bureau of Land Management via AP)AP | U.S. Bureau of Land Management

An anonymous donor has donated enough to the American Wild Horse Campaign to bring the reward for recent killings of wild California burros to more than $50,000.

A spokesman for AWHC said more than 40 federally-protected wild burros have been shot dead along I-15 between Halloran Springs, California, and Primm, Nevada. The bodies of the burros were found over the past three months.

That stretch of freeway largely runs along the northern border of the Mojave National Preserve.

The BLM is investigating the illegal killings in coordination with the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, California Highway Patrol and California Department of Fish and Wildlife.